The Humanity in Action Fellowship in Sarajevo will delve deep into the topics of transitional justice, post-conflict identity politics, peace-building and socioeconomic transformation in marginalized local communities. The City of Sarajevo, and other important historical sites in its surrounding, will serve as a unique case study of the rich history of multi-confessional urban living in Europe.

Academically well-rounded, the program will add diversity to the educational experiences and broaden the Humanity in Action program scope beyond Western Europe and the United States. It will provide Fellows with an intellectual framework that connects issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina to both past and current global issues. It will combine intense site visits, insightful lecture-style sessions with high level speakers and workshop-based learning units, which focus more on discussions and Fellow interactions. This combination of learning methods will allow Fellows to develop interpersonal relationships that solidify and strengthen the program itself.

By challenging Fellows’ perspectives on human rights issues, the program will aim to interrogate their own assumptions and encourage them to question their scope and depth of knowledge of multiculturalism; economic inequality; interfaith dialogue; post-conflict social apathy, social unrests, divided communities and social exclusions; growing trends of Islamophobia, Antisemitism and anti-outsider sentiments in the Balkans; resistance movements before, during and after the Second World War in Bosnia and in Yugoslavia; minority experiences and representations; progressive grassroots movements; the role of media and culture in a post-conflict setting; and civic resistance to various forms of institutionalized human rights violations.